By Twocircles.net Staff Reporter,
Kozhikode: Calling it an insult to Kerala, the political leaders of state are up in arms against the exclusion of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy from the statue unveiling function of former Chief Minister R Sankar, which is to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kollam on December 15.
Chandy’s name was reportedly removed from the list by the Prime Minister’s Office following pressure from BJP state committee. However, the row has brought the ruling and opposition fronts together against the Sangh fold. Interestingly, former CM R Sankar was from the Congress Party.
The Sree Narayana Guru Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP), the organisers of the function, state general secretary Vellappally Nateshan on Saturday requested Oommen Chandy to stay away from the function after he officially invited the Chief Minister to attend the function on December 10.
The request was extended claiming Chandy’s presence will result untoward incidents in the function. The SNDP functionaries said that there was in IB report in this regard.
In a statement released to the media, Chandy expressed his sorrow at this unusual request from the SNDP leader.
Chandy said he would inform Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the circumstances in which he was abstaining from the ceremony. “I’ll be at the Kochi airport to receive the Prime Minister on Monday,” Chandy said.
Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala alleged the central leadership of BJP was behind this act and he warned that such activities it will be condemned strictly.
Congress leader AK Antony said such a move was shocking while Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president V M Sudheeran termed it shameful. “It is very clear that SNDP has fell prey of the dirty politics of communal and fascist forces,” the KPCC president said.
Meanwhile, the Opposition also joined hand with the ruling front on the exclusion of Oommen Chandy. Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan demanded Vellappally to reveal the names of BJP and RSS leaders, who played the dirty game from behind.
“This is an insult to R Sankar, who was a Congress leader. Inviting Kerala’s Chief Minister and later excluding him from the programme is humiliating the entire state,” he said.
Former CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said the act exposed Vellappally’s absolute loyalty to RSS. “R Sankar is Kerala’s Former Chief Minister, who assumed the post as a leader of the Indian National Congress. He was a Congress leader till his last breath. Chandy’s servility towards BJP has led to such a pathetic situation. The state is being forced to bear with such humiliation owing to Chandy’s incapability,” Vijayan said in his Facebook post.
Meanwhile, the Intelligence Wing of State Police refuted the claims of SNDP report saying such claims were baseless.